Project Erasure
by umbraAvian
Summary: The Moon Princess' eternal love story would hold until forever; her trusted guardian's was written to vanish within the folds of history. -ygo/sm, Ami centric-
1. the first

Princess Mercury made it herself, thousands of years ago. It was right there in her compact computer, memories from an old self, an old iteration, that Project Erasure had been the rewriting of history to accommodate modern day, so that everything pre-dating the destruction of Silver Millennium had interred a new memory in the Earth and everyone that lived on it. This was never hard for Ami to understand; for the world she lived in, this precaution had to have taken place. It was the date that shocked her.

She had written it thousands of years before there was even any indication the Moon Kingdom would fall, and had given the data, locked up in a prism sealed with the energy from _her_ crystal to Pluto, to activate when and if the time ever came, something only Pluto would know. There was a binder with theories on this that she kept with her wherever she went, battered and beaten to the point that tape held it together in lieu of simply buying a new one. Was there a direct correlation with Ami's lack of power in comparison to her comrades and how much of her energy she had put into the device that would rewrite history? Given that her reclaiming of it had been a slow process, it could also enter into the equation that the more history of the Moon Kingdom was recovered, the more Ami began to get back, soaking it up like water. If her comrades burst into their old lives like phoenixes rising from the ashes, Ami's had been comparatively like a slow climb.

It was a riddle she wanted to solve herself. A device that erased history that required every bit of her strength. In that short time window where Pluto could meet them, and pretend she had an ordinary life before having to return to the time gates, Ami would discuss it with her. First, breaking the ice that a Dwarf Planet still required its own crystal and that Setsuna shouldn't let the science reports on television get to her, and second, easing into the subject (by placing the heavy binder on the table) of Project Erasure.

"You created it," Setsuna lifted the pages within the binder gingerly, as if they would tear easily if turned quietly, "In the instance, if there was no conjunction of rebirth, for Earth to continue peacefully. Had there been no revival of trouble or youma or Beryl, the people on it could live happy, normal lives, independent of knowing the dangers that once plagued us. However, since Queen Serenity arranged for your revivals in the new world, and threats did come back… its failsafe kicked in for you to become the Princess' protector again, while maintaining history until the world is ready to know of the Moon Kingdom once more."

Ami took a deep breath, searching for the right words. "I know all of that." Her eyes were searching the table for patterns as she nibbled on an onigiri she was too on edge to be hungry for. "It's the date. Project Erasure began development and finished its creation three thousand years ago… that's before any of us besides you could have known what would happen. Do you remember, Setsuna? What prompted my former self to create such a dangerous failsafe? I know- me. I know I wouldn't do it without a reason, and with Crystal Tokyo becoming our future, I need to know what would cause me to seal all of that power away, and what could do it." Her eyes were pleading. "In the wrong hands, that sort of device could destroy us."

Patting her lips with a napkin, Setsuna finally composed herself. "I want you to understand you don't want to know this."

"But I-"

The Time Keeper put her hand up, for silence. "You honestly do not wish to know this. It was on the request of Princess Mercury that should the device work, she never wanted any incarnation of her to know why… but at the same time, she understood her own thirst for knowledge. And that saddened her, knowing you would be met with unrest if you picked apart Project Erasure without any solution. She intended for Project Erasure to be assumed to be part and parcel with whatever Queen Serenity planned; that's the extent of the future I told _that_ you. It was meant to disappear."

They were words that promised an explanation. Ami's eyes lit up with anticipation mixed with fear; she couldn't think of a single thing she wouldn't want herself to know. Had she betrayed the Moon Kingdom in some way? Had the 'her' that had lived for thousands of years already under the influence of the holy crystal experienced something horrible, to be erased in time?

"It was created out of your broken heart."

•• ••

The immediate onset of hives that Ami had broken out in shortly thereafter had halted the conversation. Love letters already sparked an extreme reaction in her heart, to be told that her past self spearheaded a historically monumental project out of her own love was something _no one_ could handle, with perhaps the exception of Minako, who was destined a warrior, and Usagi, who had taken her life in the past because of it. In Setsuna's apartment, she washed her face, trying to get the cold water to settle her burning skin. The moment she turned, she was startled to see Setsuna in full Senshi get-up. In her hands was a time-turner made of pure gold, encasing a crystal glass center and an aura of shimmery blue… matter, was all Ami could seem to call it. Like her magic, intangible sparkling energy.

"This is the outcome of Project Erasure. It was the collaboration between your past life and your lo-"

Ami winced. Pluto finished sympathetically. "… of the person you knew thousands of years ago." She pushed it into her hands. "It's composed of your power and a magic not known to the Moon Kingdom. When it was turned, the Moon Kingdom's history was slowly drained out of time. No matter how many times you turn it now, the energy won't shift to the bottom." As if testing it out, Ami turned it a few times, the blue aura merely floating inside. "It's unbreakable, but you seem to have gotten a sizable amount of energy from it anyway."

"Otherwise, I wouldn't…"

"… have been reborn as a senshi." Pluto put the top of her hand on the time turner. "I know you don't want to hear this again, but you made this device while putting every bit of your heart into it. That's why if you've ever felt different by comparison… that was never chance. I know you're a smart girl, and so was Princess Mercury. But I feel sad for her."

"… why?"

Pluto closed her eyes, tightened her hand around the time key, and tapped the ground so that her door out lead to the place she was supposed to guard, then reopened them with a sharp gaze.

"Because Serenity took her life when she lost her love. When you lost yours, you did everything in your power to make sure history would never hurt the two of you the same way again. You, and the man you loved. You thought if you could erase destiny, you could erase that pain in the event you were reborn again. That you that I remember- the Princess of Mercury… she was a sad woman. Serenity and her fellow guardians were the only light in her life until the end of Silver Millennium."

Ami was stunned into silence, before Pluto walked out. "Maybe that's why you have that reaction, whenever you're approached with the topic of loving another. Perhaps those feelings never left you, and you weren't successful in erasing destiny after all."

•• ••

Minako was fated never to love another.

Makoto dreamed of having her own family.

Rei was fine being a solitary figure.

Usagi forever had the love of her life.

And by virtue of the future, they would simply be servants to Usagi, without thinking of the dreams they had as normal people.

And Ami rested her head against the wall of the museum, her homework no longer gave her the reprieve of a distraction, so she took to research. 'And Ami erased her history with love'. She'd set the time turner in her bag and gone out to compare inscriptions. She'd searched the iconography inscribed in it and determined it was from Ancient Egypt, roughly two thousand years before the fall of Silver Millennium. She couldn't have a historian look at it for a more accurate approximation because of the energy within it being a bit telltale for the supernatural.

She understood why the Princess Mercury didn't want her to chase after this lead, because Ami would take it up to eleven in finding the answers. She could put the artifact away and save it for another time, but what of her rapidly approaching future where she would be dedicating her life to serving a single person and an entire solar system as an official of law? She didn't like trailing down this mental path, because she was too good at questioning people to be bad at questioning herself. Pursue a medical career, but what will it do when you're a supernatural, sailor-skirted savior of the waking world? What was her preparation in this life for?

She honored Usagi with all her heart, but it was the situation, rather than a single person, that made Ami consider that the needs of many outweigh the dreams of one. None of the soldiers would have the lives they dreamed of. Makoto wouldn't have a flower shop and bakery, and Minako's one and only dream had been doomed before the rest of them became senshi. She wasn't sure what Rei thought of it, and knew the outer senshi were powerfully devoted to the concept of the future. Perhaps Princess Mercury had this all planned out, and the thorn that would've been Ami's core regret was pulled before she was even born.

"Excuse me?"

What would it have been like, to be a happy doctor and save lives and cure disease? To patch people up from things that weren't youma attacks?

"Miss, excuse me."

She snapped to attention, straightening herself up. "I'm sorry?"

He looked like a J-rock enthusiast and like he didn't belong in a museum at all. Those red eyes had to be contacts, and his hair jutted out behind him in three colors- magenta, black, and blonde. However, his voice was extremely calm, just wanting her attention. Without asking permission, he reached for the artifact poking out of he bag before she could react.

"Is this from the exhibits?" He inquired. Ami looked like she had just been hit with a bag of bricks. She brought an actual ancient relic into an exhibit of ancient relics to compare. She looked like an obvious thief.

"I- no. No. I brought this to be appraised for the date it came from." She gave her input nervously, now even more nervous for the swirling ether that didn't move no matter how this young man tried to turn it. "Since this exhibit is passing through town and I-"

"1033 B.C." He responded flawlessly, handing it back to her. "Down to the year. I recognize the Era's trademark sculpt…" Though now he had a suspicious look on her, and she wanted to shrink into the wall and disappear. She knew the unspoken question. What in the world was she doing with it?

"That's- extremely informative, thank you." She stood up, realizing she was about his height. "You must be an expert."

He cut in with absolutely no mercy. "There's something bizarre about that artifact. That's not a mechanical light show going on inside it."

"Indeed. It's… mercury."

It felt like an eon of time passed between them.

"Mercury?"

"Mercury. Liquid Mercury."

"No, the…" He looked lost. "I know that name."

Great. This was a one way train Ami could hop on and change the subject. "The planet closest to the sun, as well as a chemical and a Roman God. It's not a surprise that it's familiar. It's also toxic, which is probably why a dated relic would have it swirling around inside."

Conversation successfully derailed. She could breathe. He just seemed to be drawing a blank, which was her cue to go. "Thank you for the year number. It'll help my study in the artifact a lot. I have to get to cram school, so-"

"Could you bring that object back next Monday?"

She had been so _close_ to escaping. She turned with a nervous smile. He did know it down to the year, but the very last thing she needed was to be pegged as an artifact thief just because something very old, one of a kind, and extremely rare was in her possession. "I don't know if I have cram school that day or not-"

"I'll be here."

It was as if he'd decided all on his own, a one track mind with its own agenda. It annoyed her, just slightly, to have things decided for her on all ends of the spectrum at the moment. By her past self, by her future self, and by the random stranger she'd just met. At the very least, it was overwhelming. "I'll… see what I can do. I do want to know more about it."

"So do I."

"Then we'll see what happens. For now, I have to go. Until then."

Brightly smiling, she would know if his intentions with the object were pure curiosity if security wasn't called to grab her on the way out. That still didn't ease her mind enough to slow down her brisk pace. Exchanging names would only be a thought that'd stupidly resurface a day later. It wasn't like her to miss that kind of detail.

•• ••

"Chibi-usa, how come you never brought any photos from the future…? I want to know what I look like!"

The girl sitting in front of her, having a brush run through her eternally puffed pink hair shook her head. "That's against Puu's rules, Usagi. I'm the only thing that gets to travel back."

Usagi's hair had been pulled out of its odangos- it was a ritual between them to brush their impossibly styled hair at night. In a little while, the girl would go back for good so Usagi could start the life that would create Chibi-usa's future, but they agreed (with advice and dates pulled out accordingly) that they could afford just one last summer before the future started. They'd miss one another until their inevitable reunion, and Usagi, accepting of her responsibilities as she was, just wanted one last piece of time where everything seemed just right. Seemed normal, in her teenage years of growing up, and Chibi-usa was a part of that.

"Umm… then tell me what everyone is like. Are they happy?"

"Yeah, everyone's happy. Mama created a peaceful world."

Usagi stopped brushing. "… what about their dreams?"

"They've always told me their dream was keeping the world you protected alive. Without fail, every time."

Usagi's strokes with the brush slowed down to an uneven pace. "That sounds less like a dream and more like a mantra."

"I'm surprised you even know what a mantra is." That earned a firm yank on one of the pink haired girl's tangles. "Sorry! I'm telling the truth, they're all happy and that's how I've always remembered them being! The only one who's different is…"

Usagi crossed her arms in victory, waiting for her pseudo-daughter to continue. It was a subject Chibi-usa very suddenly realized she didn't want to be backed onto.

"Sailor Mercury."

Momentary victory lost, Usagi started to look concerned.

"What's different with Ami?

•• ••

_"Princess."_

_"Yes?"_

_"Have you ever noticed how much you contrast with the world down here? You're a walking mist of blue. I'm constantly convinced I'll blink and you'll be gone on the horizon, like a mirage."_

_"Thankfully, I'm more tangible than that."_

_"Something I'm thankful for as well."_

•• ••

Author's notes?

HAHA. OH MAN.

So basically when I was twelve, I wrote a fan fiction. It was terrible. But it had 150 reviews in twelve short, badly written chapters. People loved it. Somehow? Someway. And now in 2012, almost ten years later, I revisited the idea of a pairing I used to love, and decided to write, to see if I could pull it off with some degree of success.

I have no problem finishing it if anyone is interested in seeing the end. Ta-ta


	2. and the second

It was eleven past the hour, and far too long past the time she'd promised herself to wait in the museum exhibit.

A quiet library section had been her sanctuary, the binder of her notes on the Project now stuffed with more plain sheets of looseleaf paper, drawing and detailing the device from every angle, noting everything that made it a little off, a little too strange for words. It was a regular hourglass encased in gold, complete with inscriptions that weren't compatible with any known language, dead or still used. She covered it with a slight of hand every time someone walked by, knowing how suspicious the little relic looked. Six inches tall, three and a half wide, with the swirling mercury-like liquid settling on the bottom.

The glass showed no yellowing or age, but she could attribute that to being in Pluto's possession all this time. The only thing that had given away its inherent age was something only known to the boy she met. There was also the slightly concerning fact that he knew how old it was without even debating that it could be some reproduction. There was nothing particularly strange about the boy aside from his appearance, nothing that stood out to her aside from the naturally bizarre. The only cue up from her notes that he'd arrived was the fact that he'd set down a bag next to her. She glanced up, ready to interrogate or for interrogation.

But none of that came. He picked up the device and started to mess with it like a puzzle. When she started to speak and say he was holding an ancient relic, one that contained a fragment that she did not feel comfortable in the hands of others, Ami cut herself off at the complex look on his face. He seemed to understand what he was doing to a degree; as if he understood what the object was, but not quite what it did. She started taking notes on how he twisted the top like a combination lock, pausing for utter silence when she'd lift her pen off the paper, to hear the internal click. Then he would turn it again, and…

•• ••

_"It's sealed, Pluto." Long before they started wearing fuku, Mercury took to her royal duties in a slender blue dress, Pluto in a similar black one, back when they were all known as princesses, and not just one. When they held domain over civilizations and not just the Moon Kingdom, and watched over their people with every bit of heart and responsibility. All factions of the Milky Way Solar System bowed to Earth and its Moon's rule but it wasn't until another five hundred years that those civilizations would eventually condense under one kingdom; that of the Moon's._

_To call them Princesses was actually wrong; with the exception of Princess Serenity being Queen Serenity's heir, they ruled their planetary monarchies more akin to queens. But traditional titles stayed the same as always._

_"I won't ask you if you're sure." Pluto took it quietly, already knowing her answer._

_"I'm sure. The combination to its activation is coded into the writing… Old Mercurian, you remember it, don't you?"_

_"Even if I didn't, there is always time to find out…" With a sweeping turn, the blue Princess turned away, walking at a pace that made her dress fluff around her like the foam of wary waves. "Will you be all right? With the Pharaoh's sealing-"_

_"I do not wish to talk about it." Her voice resolute. "I just want our creation to be used if it is needed. That's what he would want and that's what I know I want. Since you're in charge of the time stream, you'll know if that day ever comes." Ribbons trailing after her, she left Pluto all by herself. It wasn't hard to see the difference between Mercury and the other princesses. She was all business, sealing away her most private emotions in casual conversation, and locking them up and throwing away the key when she was wounded by them. Unlike the Mars Princess, Mercury didn't even turn to fury as an outlet. She merely froze those feelings in time._

_"… don't damage yourself beyond repair." Pluto called after her. "For the sake of those who care and cared about you."_

_There was no response as the princess disappeared from her chamber, letting the frigid air breathe a little more in her wake._

•• ••

"Don't!"

She quickly snatched the hourglass away from the present stranger, who had been listening for clicks quite a while now. One thing had just been internalized in her mind; the device could not be broken, but nothing was proven on what would happen were it _opened_. He merely looked on in a startled expression as she wiped his past forty-five minutes of work by twirling the top and erasing the pattern of the combination put in.

"This is… _not_ meant to be opened." She wasn't sure why the words came out of her mouth so staggeringly worried, but it invoked a bad feeling inside to watch as the device became decoded, like a game.

"Ah, you know something about it after all."

There was something smug in that tone of voice, like he'd been poking her for a reaction the entire time he'd been there. He had an investment in the device that he wasn't aware of, and _she_ had been his lead, instead of vise versa. She closed her binder with an audible snap and set the hourglass on top. Senshi rule number one was you don't talk about being a senshi. However, prodding someone for information on a device that could have some history in neutral territory… well, she would take the risk.

"That's wrong, the most mystifying part of this device is how little I know about it- I just had a terribly bad feeling when I thought you were going to open it. Instinct over thought."

"Fair is fair." She was really itching to know his name, all she could come up with were nicknames based on his star-shaped hair. "I don't know anything about it either, but when I had it in my hands, I could feel the puzzle inside it."

… What? "You mean, you could understand how to open it just by touching it?"

"This was put together with meticulous care." He glanced at her for a cue, then took it back in his hands as Ami watched to make sure he didn't try the combination again- then flipped open her binder to write down 'top circular side disguised as combination lock. Do not open'. He turned it up and down, brushed his fingers against the metalwork. "The kind I'm familiar with, but I don't know quite why. No one would think an hourglass has something like a lock."

Wait.

"… You… didn't know what you're doing the entire time, aside from touching it? I don't understand how that is-"

"I'm what you would call an amnesiac." He stated bluntly, enough to make Ami's face flush. "A lot of things I do I don't understand how or why. Why do you think I never gave you my name? I don't remember that either."

He was either contrived or supernatural, she decided, after muttering an apology for not knowing about his memory loss. "So somewhere in your mind, you keep the memory of devices like this… and how to solve them, like puzzles?"

"Something like that," He responded. "But this is one of a kind, and a part of no set. I know you lied about the mercury." His voice didn't seem accusatory in that fact, just something to state. He pressed his fingertips where the blue ether settled, darkening just a bit in reaction to his fingertips. "When I first touched this the first time I picked it up last week, I felt something strange."

_Of course he would,_ Her mind dreaded. _That's a fragment of me inside._

"I felt like I missed something so badly it was painful. And I can feel that right now, if I keep my hands on it… "

Her awestruck glance stared until he could seemingly no longer take it, and pushed it aside. "I don't have a name, but you have to call me something." He paused, considering his situation. "In the instance of being the dark half to someone's light, Yami is a bit foreboding, but it's all I can come up with."

"… Ami Mizuno."

"Beautiful Center of Water." He parsed the words from her name into their meaning, most likely to embarrass her.

"Shadow." She said back to him, being someone entirely not good at taking teasing. He shrugged and pushed the hourglass closer to her to put away, suggesting that she resume hiding it; they are in a museum after all. It was his next actions that startled her. It was pretty much his ice breaker; he took a deck of cards out of his pockets and began to shuffle them, asking her if she played.

"… I-" She did. There was a scouting night for a new enemy a few months ago, for the most crowded places in their district of Tokyo. Ami was stuck with a game store on the night of a big release and small tournament, and spent the entire night learning the intricacies of the game itself. To say she found it mentally stimulating was an understatement. She'd decimated 3 months of her allowance staring at the glass case containing cards and picking which would be the best for her personal strategy until the store closed, a rough four hours. None of her friends played, and she felt embarrassed asking others, so she'd mostly played against a computer game version and winning. "I do."

"I won't need to leave for a while. Would you like to play a game?"

She rustled through her bag for the subtle drawstring bag that contained her cards and began shuffling wordlessly. "It might be a while."

"That's fine."

A while turned out to be just ten minutes before closing. She had lost after fighting a rather vicious battle, but losing didn't bother her. Watching strategies helped improve hers. Her expression had lightened considerably as she gently put her cards back into the deck.

"If you had taken more risks, you might have won." He added, doing the same. "Your playing style is conservative. You keep your teammates alive as long as you can and attack when you're reassured you can make it through the next turn."

"You play with a strategy that's indeterminable, but you're right. You took a lot more risks than I, and it paid in the end." Ami paused, putting her cards away, then smiling when she found the right metaphor. "It's like Blackjack."

"… How so?"

"It's as if we both got the amount of cards that totaled sixteen." She held up a finger. "That point is the basis of whether you hold back, or you gamble again in order to get closer to 21. There's the risk of bust, but if you don't play another card, it's very likely you'll be defeated. So I'm the type who would play with sixteen to see if the other player busts, and you're the type who would ask the dealer for another card to get a more favorable number."

It was that moment he decided she was adorable, bright eyed and waiting for his reaction to her comparison. He laughed. "That's- perfect, actually. I could apply that to a lot of people, but you summed up two people's strategies in just one metaphor." This girl had some relation to him with his past, with that little relic; that much he knew, the rest, not so much. "… I have an idea."

"What is it?" She stood up at the cue of one of the museum curators encouraging people to start leaving. The window outside had gone dark.

"Let's meet here again, same time next week. We'll play Blackjack then."

She tilted her head slightly. "… It's a gambling game, though."

"So we'll make stakes. If you win, I'll explain the best I can the importance that artifact of yours has with no bars held. Unless you'd rather have something else?"

"No, that's… exactly what I want, to be perfectly honest." She slid her binder into her bag before slinging it over her shoulder. "That doesn't cover what you'd like, though."

He pulled his coat on, adjusted the strange ornament around his neck and the choker to go with it. "I want to preface this with 'I am not a stalker'."

Oh, god.

"And I'll prove it by saying certain important test scores are nationally posted in every school, including mine. Mizuno Ami is a name I see at the top frequently, if not always. I take it cram school must be a nightly thing, with the exception of today."

He… wasn't lying. Between studying, fighting, and hanging out with her core group of friends, Ami did little else. "… That's true. I want to get into Tokyo University."

"Then my request is just one thing. If I can figure out my plaguing familiarity that has to do with you and a little relic, I'll be much more at ease. That means getting to know you, and if I could have an afternoon to spend with you, that should be a good start." Nothing in his tone of voice implied anything except burning curiosity, but it didn't stop Ami from covering her face almost immediately.

"I-I-I-I-"

"Of course, if you don't like the idea of that, all you have to do is win and get more information in that tome of a binder you're building. Are these fair terms?"

She took a deep breath, thankful not to break out in hives. Just another card game, and she didn't dislike this person- he'd been utterly honest with her when he didn't need to be, calm when he could have pushed her buttons more, and understanding when she went with her instinct and messed up the puzzle he had tried to break. If she got nervous, she could bring along a friend- maybe Rei. She seemed like the only one who wouldn't tease her for the fact that she gambled for information with, for all intents and purposes, a date at stake. She might chide her for it, but she would easily take that over swooning and heckling about boyfriends.

"They're fair terms." She held out her hand, as if shaking on it made it a deal she wouldn't go back on, knowing she looked a little ridiculous doing so. Yami took it with all seriousness, grasping her hand and shaking it tightly.

"Next week, then."

And he turned and left, and she paused to consider what exactly transpired, her heart beating against her school bag. Well, she'd been in scenarios where losing wasn't an option before. What made now so different?

•• ••

It was a night where she watched the swirling motion of her ceiling fan on the lowest setting, watching one rotating blade of the fan and locking her eyes on it until she was eventually dizzy enough to shut her eyes. She opened them on the other side of her subconscious, where _the sun was hot on her face and the scenery was a sea of gold. She wore a blue shawl that draped gently over her head and shoulders so her light skin wouldn't burn, pinned to her blue hair with a golden circlet with rings of gold hanging off of them in pairs of threes. Her arrival was met with praise; she couldn't understand the language but people were eager to take her hand and lead her to the palace. This dream 'her' spoke the language fluently and warmly, as if she'd come home from a long trip._

_The snippets of her own thoughts that she could hear was that these people had missed her, that she was something of an ambassador and a royal guest. That she helped the throne maintain its land and legacy against invading countries with her advice; that's it, 'Ami' could parse from the dream; she was an advisor and tactician wherever this world of her dreams was. When she made her way up the steps carved from granite and lined with gold, a hand took hers, and before she could look up to meet the owner's face, the dream cut away to another scene._

_A sunset on a beautiful horizon, her shawl gone. When the sun went down, so did the heat. She was something bizarre- a blue-haired blue-eyed princess done up in blue waves of fabric, and no one quite understood who she was aside from one person. They were right next to her, but her dream wouldn't give her the satisfaction of looking beside her. Wouldn't give her a face to place._

_"You promised the last time we competed that you would stay here with me. That your duties would give you leave because the ebb and flow of time is kind to you. I would never ask another monarch to step down, but… I am admittedly a selfish man."_

_"And I don't break promises…" 'Ami' felt her voice speak in response. "You'll break my heart, just a bit."_

_"How so?"_

_"Having multiple wives is looked down on in my celestial culture. I would be considered a harem girl when I should be a ruler to my people and a respected guardian to my princess."_

_"Then you'll be the only one."_

_Her glance shifted enough to see that she pushed the figure's arm playfully, his reaction the same as if they were old friends playing. "I will not ask you to rewrite your laws just as you wouldn't ask me to rewrite mine."_

_"What if…" He suggested on the tip of his tongue. "Nothing seems to compare, when you return to your kingdom, and I have my duties, my castle feels like it's completely empty when my servants and advisors and priests are at my constant beck and call?"_

_"I would say you're trying to romance me."_

_"And I would ask if it's successful."_

_"And I would say you'll break my heart, you fiend." Their tones were the same, steady warmth they had been since the scenery shifted. This 'Ami' closed her eyes to feel the heat leave the world as the sun set, and felt a very warm hand on her face, turn to face him, finally. She didn't open her eyes. His hand reached to lace into the side of her hair, and she felt golden bangles on this character's wrist. Being self aware in a dream was the perfect way to wake yourself up, but nothing Ami seemed to try swayed this body she was in, swept up in a warm, contented feeling free of… anything the senshi was used to feeling, the constant need to keep on top of things, the stress, the self-awareness of her situation, it was all melted away in this body for all she could describe as the most at ease she'd ever felt, and it wasn't the scenery but the person she was with who changed that._

_"You came down here to keep working on that device, but I'm afraid I'll have to deny you. You have shadows under your eyes. Your own advisors must be running you ragged."_

_"Please never worry about that. In your company, I could never feel that stress."_

_"So that's a yes, even if you think I'll break your heart."_

_"…"_

_All she knew was that her body did not flinch when it was pulled close, even if her heart beat a little faster. Her parted lips and slowly opening eyes _only woke her to the dawn outside her apartment room. She should be breaking out in hives. But the feeling, that single, solitary, indescribable feeling was too kind to her to let go until it eventually faded and her new day began.

* * *

><p>FIRST OF ALL: all italics are flashback no matter what, unless punctuated in a sentence! Just gotta make that one clear. Even dream flashbacks! I'm not being subtle at all.<p>

Second of all: I am totally finishing this.

Third of all: Reviews make me happy and also tell me where you'd like to see me take this, and I appreciate all feedback. Thanks


	3. and also the third

Going to be tightening up the timeline, as well as upping the rating to a drastic 'T'. Oh nooo.

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><p><em>Truth was, she'd been around for three hundred years.<em>

_The few kingdoms that weren't wary of the Moon Kingdom asked its guidance in dark times. Queen Serenity offered- in exchange for an alliance, her best tactician, the reigning sovereign of the planet closest to the sun. The first Pharaoh Princess Mercury served was not the leader she would come to know hundreds of years later. She was iconified in stone during that space of three hundred years as the 'Blue Lady' that researchers would never be able to decipher the meaning behind. Painted entirely in blue pigment on stone, the Blue Lady was written as 'an advisor against Roman Conquest' and disappeared from history and hieroglyphs after the disappearance of the last Pharaoh she served. It wasn't clear whether her purpose was that of a deity or simply a specific, changing advisor who was constantly draped in blue; and historians would always be wrong._

_She'd seen the rise and fall of many kings, of many thrones over the three hundred years Princess Mercury served Egypt. The very last man she served did not need her advice; he was a brilliant man on his own, even putting that wisdom into the games she'd watch them brutally play. He was fascinated by games, by play, that on one of her obligatory visits (appearances had to be kept of their alliance, even if he needed no tactical advisor), she had brought him a carved board and glass pieces of a game given to her by one of her fellow sovereigns. She called it chess._

_She won their first game, and he didn't attribute it to his being new to it._

_He'd met the other sovereigns on one visit. The queen and her daughter held a unique and unrivaled beauty, though her daughter bashful and unfocused on his Kingdom; it seemed she valued Earth for other things or other people. The princess of the red planet held all the beauty of Isis, the descendant of the Greek's goddess of love living up to her legend, and the fierce warrior that was the monarch of Jupiter was no different. In the light of these five women, one would think the short haired Princess Mercury was their shadow. He saw something different._

_He saw brilliance, aged like wine, that had seen his ancestors and assisted them to victory. Ideas and ideals, appreciation for wit and the wise. Someone could have long golden hair and power imbued, violet eyes and the heart of a guardian, power and passion for the will to fight, or the hereditary beauty and voice of a love goddess, and while he was certain they were all brighter than the people around them, none of their traits were 'wisdom untold, cleverness unspoken'. If you wanted to be challenged, you wanted a brilliant opponent. And she was brilliant, with short locks of easily fluffed blue hair and a steady, wise voice. Her heart was in her teachings, and she recorded his every word, for his life would pass before hers, and she confided in him, sadly, that someday words would be all she had of him._

_He asked her what wisdom in there in recording time, if you don't wake up and enjoy it for what it is? She blinked, draped in white cotton, settling the bound book on her stomach and the quill on top of it. He was rarely afforded time away from his advisors, but he had a secret hideaway near the Nile where he could escape for 24 hours, more or less, while everything else was handled. It wasn't a record. It was a diary. She was in such trouble. This was a business relationship, or at the very least, one amicably kept up between kingdoms. She shouldn't be lying in bed and staring at the ceiling, amazed at how comfortable and content she was. Three hundred years of serving different sovereigns and she finally finds herself allowing herself to love one._

_To be fair, there were none before him that made her feel that way._

_She felt common, even though in her position she was the very exact opposite, and it felt wonderful. To make choices that were reckless and to indulge in the sweet aftertaste that they gave her. Deity-like advisor and lover of the ruler of this land. The bed was packed with feathers and beaded with dozens of glass vials filled with honey that were said to keep pests away. He wasn't there, presumably attending to things he was needed for very early in the morning, when the sun told her it was nine, maybe ten. A cat leapt up and sprawled for her attention, and she couldn't help cracking a smile at how sacred they were regarded as here as she pet it._

_A glimmer of light caught her eye; laid on the table nearby were jewels and gold in the style of the Egyptians. All blue, including the dress that she would wear beneath it. A note said that Queen Serenity had been informed of a Roman plot that was leaked, and Mercury was on leave for as long as needed be. He vouched for her vacation, probably after seeing the only time she was truly at rest._

_"…" _

_She knew what the jewels meant. It solidified her position in this kingdom. No one would ever be given jewelry this fine without being akin to royalty. Her dress was dyed with consistent streaks of blue, of rich colors made from plants and herbs, so she wouldn't be mistaken for anyone else. All she could imagine, was that she felt she was being given exception to her fellow princesses. She shouldn't be gallivanting off just because of one person, there were rules to adhere to, she thought as she fastened the ringlets around her neck, and if she was willing to accept now, she had better be ready to tell the truth later. That a warrior shouldn't, couldn't… _

_But wouldn't was an entirely different question._

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><p>"I have to worry about Minako's true love of the week, and I have to chase after Makoto to make sure she doesn't clean house until two in the morning on a school night, but you, Ami?" Rei asked, peering up from her book of Shinto history. "I have to follow you because you gambled a date on Blackjack?" Rei crossed her arms and leaned across the table. "You realize this sounds like a really badly thought out youma setup, right?"<p>

Ami made a pained expression. "For the _truth_, Rei-chan. This is still tied into my work as a senshi. If someone can tell me anything about this, because P- Setsuna won't, then I have to take every lead I can. You know this is a dangerous device and-"

Rei waved her hand as if she didn't want to hear any more. "You only act like an easily blinded dummy when someone's beating your test scores, I trust you, but I'm watching this guy."

They spent time quietly after that, Ami refining her notes, Rei reading her book in that small corner of the museum library until he showed up. The red soldier's face said it all when she saw him: Ridiculous hair? Check. Suspicious pendant? Check. Red eyes? Check. Ami, you idiot, this is clearly someone working for the other side. Ami shushed her back to semi-relaxed as she greeted him- Yami, she called him, and Rei couldn't mentally face palm more. She was glad she had her pen in her pocket, and when he took out the deck to play, she told him to put it away, producing a brand new, factory sealed pack from her bag and tossing it on the table.

"You can never be too careful…" Marked cards and such. "And I'll be dealing for the both of you. Ami, you better be as good at this as you hope you are."

That was awkward. Ami had pleading, mentally apologizing eyes and he had 'don't sweat it, good friends are protective friends' eyes. After a few rounds, it really was a game of luck, Ami putting up her bravest poker face whenever she got 16 total, trying to prove herself wrong by asking for the occasional card. She felt like her playing strategy was like dodging trees in a forest while blindfolded. He smoothly took every round, every win and loss with the same face. Rei had begun to relax. She didn't feel anything off, like some sort of soul-sucking energy draining aura or similar; just two people playing cards. They were playing by betting 'chips', aka writing down from one hundred total and whoever was broke first, lost.

Ami bet her last three on twenty total. He had twenty-one.

"And the winner is tricolor over here." Rei made a grand mock gesture before slipping into her chair, grateful to be back to her book. Ami was bracing herself to break out in hives, holding out her hand to shake with a smile. He shook back, with a small smile.

"Your assessment of your playing, from the other day- that you play conservatively, was a little off. You stuck out your neck a lot more and you got closer to winning for it."

Ami shook her head, embarrassed. "It's just because I knew I would be up against someone who wasn't."

That gave him pause. She was a strategist from the beginning. Some faint sort of understanding and that's how she got so far, and- well, it wasn't going to be a date of arcades, and if the word date bothered her, it wasn't even going to be a date. The ebony-haired girl's glare was shooting daggers in his direction, but he didn't want to play cards with Ami- well, maybe he _did_, but that could wait for another time. He put on his jacket, she packed her things and thanked her friend, who was grateful for the cue to go.

_Not suspicious,_ Rei thought. _Just a strange guy. Why is that all the luck we have?_

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><p>"This is one of a kind. They didn't use these back then- these hourglasses. Impeccable shape, there's not a touch of yellowing on the glass… some would think that impossible."<p>

She quickly took a bite of her sandwich in order not to answer right away.

"Then again, I'm guilty of the same thing."

He took off that huge pendant and set the two next to each other, "No yellowing or rust or telltale age. It seems there's a lot of artifacts like this despite all logic."

"Fascinating…"

"What exactly is inside your hourglass?" He asked. All he had ordered was something to drink. Cold tea was a sin but he found himself fond of it anyway. Acquired taste.

She paused, not exactly sure how to answer. "It's… something indescribable."

"So am I."

"Pardon?"

"He put his hands on the pyramid-shaped pendant and asked her, with a completely straight face, "If I told you I came from this, you would think I'm insane."

Let's see. Queen Beryl, the Dark Kingdom, Wiseman, Nehelenia, the slew of monsters of the week, being the reincarnation of the princess of an uninhabitable planet who also served the reincarnation of a princess of the moon, transforming with crystals and pens and talking cats and-

"I think I could believe it if you explained."

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><p>Well, she understood, but simultaneously wasn't any further in her understanding of the hourglass. A spirit of the past regaining his memories… wasn't she trying to step into the Mercurian Princess' shoes and understand the same? Who was winning here? Pluto had made her stance that if she was to learn more of Project Erasure, she would be on her own… maybe not anymore.<p>

"You'll tell me if you remember anything about it?"

He pointed. "You owe me… if you find out about what's inside that hourglass, I want to know."

For a moment, just a moment, Ami felt cheeky. "I would stake it on another game."

"And I would win. Again."

"And I would say you're overestimating yourself. What fun is a game if you always win?"

_"And I would say you're overestimating yourself. What fun is a game if you always win?"_

Two sentences that made them both stop in some sort of echo. For a moment in time, they were repeating some age-old conversation, or something familiar, or something close. Ami felt like she had suddenly trespassed something even though she had said absolutely nothing wrong. She broke the awkward silence. "I won't be that stingy. If I learn anything new… I'll tell you."

He nodded, slowly, and they started to part ways down the street, as she was due for the bus stop back to her district in Tokyo. She reasoned it wasn't really lying… if she already knew exactly what it was, and there was nothing new to say, right? It didn't stop her from letting her fore head hit the bus window with a touch of guilt. She should have realized what her fun and games despite losing had been all along.

"I'm just manipulating him…"

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><p>He crossed his hands behind his head as he began the walk, wondering when his consciousness would fade out and return to its host.<p>

"I'm just manipulating her, aren't I?


End file.
